Pronunciation: loh-reen-YAH-no-SOR-us
Meaning: Lourinhã lizard
Author/s: Mateus (1998)
Synonyms: None known
First Discovery: Peralta, Portugal
Discovery Chart Position: #428
Lourinhanosaurus antunesi
Discovered in 1982 but not described until 1998, Lourinhanosaurus was initially thought to be an allosauroid, then a sinraptorid, then a megalosauroid: the theropod dinosaurs that became known as spinosauroids until Megalosaurus got itself reinstated as a valid critter and reclaimed its family from Spinosaurus. Later still, it was thought to be a eustreptospondilyd. But in 2010, Roger Benson found it to be most closely related to Poekilopleuron and sent it back to Sinraptoridae, which has since been sunk as a junior synonym of Metriacanthosauridae. Truth be told, Lourinhanosaurus may just be a generic member of Coelurosauria, or conceivably anything mentioned above.
Not to be confused with Lourinhasaurus, a Portuguese dinosaur of the sauropod variety, Lourinhanosaurus is the first theropod dinosaur to which gastroliths have been assigned, which is unusual because gastroliths are generally swallowed by cheek-less herbivores to grind plant material in the gut. In 1993, a nest was found at Paimogo Beach with around one hundred theropod eggs, some containing tiny bones, which are the only dinosaur embryos hitherto found in Europe and some of the oldest ever found anywhere. They were later assigned to Lourinhanosaurus antunesi.
Not to be confused with Lourinhasaurus, a Portuguese dinosaur of the sauropod variety, Lourinhanosaurus is the first theropod dinosaur to which gastroliths have been assigned, which is unusual because gastroliths are generally swallowed by cheek-less herbivores to grind plant material in the gut. In 1993, a nest was found at Paimogo Beach with around one hundred theropod eggs, some containing tiny bones, which are the only dinosaur embryos hitherto found in Europe and some of the oldest ever found anywhere. They were later assigned to Lourinhanosaurus antunesi.
(Antunes' Lourinhã lizard)Etymology
Lourinhanosaurus is derived from "Lourinhã" (the area in which it was discovered) and the Greek "sauros" (lizard).
The species epithet, antunesi, honours Portuguese paleontologist Miguel Telles Antunes.
Discovery
The first remains of Lourinhanosaurus were discovered in the Sobral Member of the Farta Pao Formation at Peralta,
about 75 Km NW of Lisbon, near Lourinhã, Estremadura Province, Portugal, in 1982 by Mr. Luis Mateus who dug them from the ground himself. Unfortunately, he was a farmer, not a palaeontologist, and while kind enough to deliver them to the Museum of Lourinhã in person, he smashed the block of rock that contained the fossils to pieces for ease of transport! The holotype (ML 370) includes six neck vertebrae with ribs, five back vertebrae with ribs, five hip vertebrae, 14 tail vertebrae and eight chevrons, both thighs, a right shin and calf bone, one foot bone, a complete hip, and 32 gastroliths, from a single individual lying on its right side.
A femur (ML 555) found in the Lourinhã Formation at Porto das Barcas, and a nest with around 100 eggs, some containing embryonic bones (ML 565) found at the nearby beach of Paimogo in 1993, were later referred to Lourinhanosaurus antunesi.
Both the skeleton and the eggs are on display at Museu da Lourinhã.
